Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Insanity
by ViTaL-4-SRvIIvAL
Summary: Can't give a summary yet. Let's just say there will be some major basic pairings interesting sexual musings. RavenXBB, RobinXStarfire, and Cyborg w/ someone I haven't thought of yet. Teaser: "Do you think he's green everywhere?" "trail of glory"
1. Chapter 1

I'm trying to limit myself to writing short, cute things instead of something long that just makes me feel guilty every time I look at it because I know it'll take forever to finish. So, ever chapter will be a little mini-story, all on its own.

* * *

THE PATH TO GLORY, AND OTHER PARTS OF A BOY'S ANATOMY

The Tower had been devoid of food for two straight days – not a good thing – but strangely, no one had noticed. The teen titans had been consumed, so to speak, in their own agendas, having nothing to do but wait around for the next catastrophe to emerge.

Raven was reading up on some new lore. It was interesting, but ultimately, she knew a lot of the stuff she was looking through would be ineffective in most battles, and others were serious overkill. Cyborg was updating the crew's vehicles, absolutely absorbed in attaching a new blaster cannon by noon. Beast boy was dying of tension in front of the Titan's huge television, hovering two inches above the couch as he battled man-eating necromorphs. He just could get past them. It was driving him insane. Another Titan who had been going slightly insane herself was tucked away in her room and had been for a week. Starfire hadn't been seen for a long while, but none had noticed, being as distracted as they were.

It was Robin, who had just finished organizing his utility belt, that realized there was no food whatsoever in the tower. He'd received information on new equipment – something innovative and compact, with less boom. What it lost in destruction it made up for with finesse. After he'd finished, and packed everything away, he was hit full force with the gnawing, aching emptiness he'd been kept at bay far in the back of his mind.

With an obligated sort of listlessness, he shuffled into the kitchen, watching Beast Boy crouched over his seat, tilting far to the side as he jabbed at the buttons on his controller with a jittery, lightning-fast speed that set his teeth on edge. He raised his eyebrow at the red haze that went across the screen of the first-person shooter as an ugly-ass creature swiped and snarled. He turned away from the malformed nightmare, and opened the refrigerator to find absolutely nothing.

Nothing. (_nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing... that was an echo…)_

He reached inside, halted, and waved his hand around inside in disbelief. The Tower's fridge had never been this empty before. There had always been _something_ inside it, even if it had only been a weird deformed alien substance that no one but Starfire would dare touch. But there was nothing. Strangely, everything was clean too. No dirty dishes, no streaks of spilled anything that might have hinted at someone scarfing something down, no crumbs – nothing.

"Ah," he murmured. "Great."

Cybog trumped into through the sliding door, wiping his hands on a dirty rag. His eyes lit up on Robin standing in front of the fridge.

"Hey, Robin. Anything to eat in there?"

Robin leveled him with a serious stare and kicked the door open wider to show Cyborg the tragic predicament they were in. He didn't take it well.

His eyes boggled. "What?!" He rushed forward. "Where'd all the food go?"

"I don't know," Robin frowned. "I could have sworn we were good for another week or so."

"Maybe a couple of days ago," said Beast Boy from the couch, where he was slumped, the screen before him flashing "GAME OVER" mockingly. "I ate a celery stalk a few hours ago, I think." His stomach rumbled loudly, joined by a crashing tumbling roar of demand from Cyborg's own belly.

Beast Boy raised his head and turned to smile reverently at Cyborg. "That was epic."

Cyborg glowered. "Who was supposed to get the groceries? Where's that schedule?"

Robin closed the fridge door, and opened a cupboard drawer (empty as well) and retrieved the list from under the empty cookie jar. He flecked a bit of fluff off the page and examined it.

"Ugh," he went, as a pang went through his stomach. "Well, technically, it should have been Raven."

Beast Boy's ears perked. "But…"

"But your week for food runs has started as of today, Beast Boy."

He groaned, and Cyborg's eyebrows went up. "Him? He always gets crap. You can't send him. He's already hungry. He'll get stupid stuff that'll last us five seconds and leave us high."

_Yeah, _Robin though grimly. If they sent Beast Boy, he'd come back with sodas and chips. Nothing substantial. Robin met Cyborg's eyes. "Well do you want to go?"

"Pfft. Why don't you go?"

Robin grimaced and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I can't, I… Uh. It's Wednesday… You know."

Cyborg rolled his eyes. "They'll both go."

Beast Boy rolled his broad shoulders and shut off the game system. They space in his stomach felt hollow and lonely. "Thanks for all the confidence. Bunch of assholes. I'll go get her."

So that's how Raven was summoned out of her room and exited into the bright morning like a vampire from a crypt. She hadn't seen sunlight in a while, but she hadn't eaten in a while either, and while she was grouchy as all hell, she accepted that she'd just have to get this over with.

They went into the supermarket, armed with Robin's credit card, which seemed to have unlimited funding that came from no one knew where. His parents? An estranged but caring uncle? A lover??? No one had ever asked, and Robin offered no explanation as to how they paid for their food, shelter and stuff.

"I'll go this way," Raven said, pointing left. "You go over there." They each took a basket.

"Divide and conquer," Beast Boy said dramatically, crouching low and darting off in the direction she'd indicated. Raven pressed her lips together and turned her back, deciding not to comment, and hoping he wouldn't embarrass her by the end of this.

He was older, they all were, really, but he still managed to keep his annoying boyishness.

_Maybe one day he'll mature_, Raven though as she went down one aisle. _And then maybe next, the world will explode_.

She got sandwich ingredients for Cyborg whose appetite had only grown in the past years. He could shovel food into his mouth in frightening quantities. And it was showing him off to great advantage. He'd had to update his robotic parts to match his new enormity. He'd been a major presence before, but he was massive now. Massive and intimidating. She turned another corner and there he was in the magazine covers. Strong, secure, wide and powerful. He looked so serious.

She imagined him with his big goofy grin and wondered how much the public didn't know.

A pair of girls beside her giggled and she turned, then immediately wished she hadn't. they were holding a magazine between them, and over their shoulders she could see a smattering of photographs of Robin. Leaping, running, rolling, being sexy and heroic.

Urgh, she thought. Fangirls.

She continued on her way.

Robin was a hot commodity on the magazine stands: Who was Robin? What made him tick? Was he single? Did he and that cute alien girl have a thing? Or was he dating that gloomy chick? What was his perfect girl? What would be your perfect date? Embarrassing/romantic moments? Could we take a picture of you? Photo shoot? Could you tell me something about you? Please? Just a nibble?

So far, he hadn't been coerced into an interview or anything. Just bringing that sort of stuff up was taboo to him. He was so serious, really serious. That sort of thing didn't appeal to him at all. And his coldness only seemed to spur on those raging girl hormones. He was sexy, sure.

He'd gotten leaner, less wiry as the years rolled on. He was solid and knife-like. All lethal edges and mysterious brooding expressions. Even Raven had to admit, he was a bit of a heartthrob.

She put Robins' looks out of her mind with minimal effort and perused another aisle, looking for the things he usually ate. He wasn't a picky eater, but he didn't like eating empty calories. He wanted something that would give him what he needed.

_Maybe pasta_, she thought, then cursed because that was back in another aisle she'd just left. She turned around and went back, passing the magazine aisle again, which was unfortunate.

The girls were still there, giggling. Then, one of them said something that she immediately wished she hadn't heard. "Do you think he's green everywhere?"

_Dear God_, she reddened at the question, and hurried her steps, trying to get past them as quick as possible. But they were still ahead of her, and as she got closer, she could hear even clearer.

"He has to be." (giggle) "I mean… even…" (giggle) "Down there?"

Raven's face was a deep burgundy. Even the tops of her shoulders and chest felt hot.

"Oh, I wish those pants were just a little lower…" (giggle) "Look at that, don't you just want to drool?" (giggle) "It's called a happy trail… haha. Get it? Cause you'd be happy just to – "

Just then, they clamped up. One shoved the other, and they stared at something past her shoulder, then, startled, directly at her. They took in her steamy, red face and sent another panicky look over her shoulder, then dropped the magazine and streaked off, squeaking like idiots.

Raven watched them round the corner, stopped walking as she came up on the dropped magazine and saw yet another thing she'd rather not have seen.

_Is it too late to erase these things from my memory, cut them out, cauterize the wound and go on with my life…?_

Maybe there was a spell somewhere in the world that could help her out, but she felt there was no hope of ever completely obliterating this image from the world: it was Beast Boy, in a pair of his loose-fitting pants and a smallish shirt. This was before he'd been forced to get a new wardrobe to replace what he was growing out of.

The shirt was too short, too tight, and the pants were the same. He'd lowered them in those days, opting to have them ride low on his hips rather than show off his ankles. Not only that, but he had his shirt lifted and was bent slightly, showing the ripple of his abs off to maximum effect as he wiped at a cheek with one hand and held a dripping ice-cream cone aloft in another. He hadn't noticed his picture being taken which was evident by his blissful boyish expression.

It was a totally candid shot of him being messy and enjoying a cone like there was nothing wrong at all – like he didn't sizzle up the double-page spread like the sun was sizzling up the environment around him.

And there it was, like those girls had been giggling about. A dappled trail that curved around his bellybutton and disappeared into the edge of his low slung pants. They clung to his lean hips and set off the green of his skin, slightly lighter around the curve of his hipbone and lighter still the lower it went. _"Do you think he's green everywhere?"_

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, making her jump and drop the big loaf of French bread Cyborg preferred for one of his massive sandwiches.

"Whoa," Beast Boy snatched it out of the air just before it hit the ground and straightened with a self-satisfied grin. "Awesome."

Until he saw the magazine on the floor. "Oh." He went. For a horrifying moment Raven could do nothing but stand and watch him. She could not move, could not breathe.

He bent, shifting his loaded basket over to one arm, and picked it up. It was the seriousness on his face that let first the muscles in her shoulders relax, and then slowly release the tension in the rest of her body.

Focusing, this time, on something other than Beast Boys' exposed midriff, she shifted her eyes to the picture again. On the top in big red letters it read, "WHAT A BEAST". Was that it? What was he looking at?

"Damn," he said. "You guys were right, I should have gotten some new clothes. I look fucking ridiculous." He sighed, then flipped it closed. "Man, that day was hot. That ice-cream was good though. Do you think Robin would get pissed if we bought a bunch of ice-cream?"

Raven stood dumbfounded for a moment, then relaxed and shook her head. Same old clueless dope. Beast Boy may have changed on the outside, but he was still so very immature and not-all-there-just-yet. She started off for the pasta stuff and Beast Boy followed after her.

"Sure," she said. "I guess we can get ice-cream."

"Yeah," he said. "What can he do after we've already bought it, right? I'll go get some. What do you want, vanilla?"

She nodded.

He snapped his fingers. "Cool, I'll meet you in line."

Raven brushed an imaginary wisp of hair out of her eyes, and went to get in line. The cashier had just finished handing the customer before her the change, when she realized who it was.

Joanie. Crazy stalker. But it was okay, because she only stalked Robin.

"Hello, Raven," she said brightly. "Robin isn't here today, huh?"

Like he would ever. Not while she had a shift.

Raven shook her head slightly, offering no invitation for further conversation. Beast Boy bounded up the walk, placing his selections in the conveyer belt, cutting off a woman who had been closing in.

"Opps. Sorry," he said, flashing her a large-eyed apologetic smile that just about warmed the woman's heart 38 degrees.

"Oh," she went, patting her blushing cheek. "It's alright."

Beast Boy smiled then turned back to Raven, busy trying to avoid Joanie's pointed questions about Robin and his next visit.

"He's such a frequent buyer," Joanie was saying. "If he came by… in person… I could slip him a discount."

Raven shook her head, swishing the card through its slot quickly. "That's not necessary."

The girl, much too pretty, with chocolate almond eyes, to be so delusional, kept up her intrusive, plying questions. "Maybe I should help you carry those. If you want, I'll help you take them all the way to the tower. It seems like a lot. My break is coming up soon."

Raven scrambled to gather all the bags into her arms, suddenly getting worried for her own safety. Joanie was known to be persistent. It was time to blow this joint. Before someone got hysterical.

"That's okay," Beast Boy cut in, looking uncomfortable as well by Joanie's odd stalker behavior. "I've got it covered."

He reached over Raven, who had lurched forward uneasily, encumbered as she was under all that crap, and grabbed most of the bags out of her hands. She flinched as his arms had come around her, making the tops of her shoulders bump into his forearms. In one crystallized moment in time, she'd seen perfectly clearly the shape and strength of his hands.

There was always something particularly delectable about a man's hands. She'd decided this when she and Starfire had together perused the pages of a particularly racy magazine. (I'll give you five points to guess which one…) The photographs depicted a man, leaning back in a lounge chair, gripping a slender model by the waist as she straddled him, both staring very intensely and lustily into each others' eyes. Starfire had cooed, staring at the two of them, and the romantic image they made together. But the image that stuck in Raven's mind was the way the man's hands had gripped the woman's hips.

So secure and masculine. Full of the promise of power and something visceral. She couldn't get it out of her head, no matter how much she tried, and so she'd locked it away in a place all her silly fantasies went, like the one where she'd dreamed some man would hold her like that someday, with those same powerful hands.

Only, when did Beast Boy, adding stress on the _boy_, manage to get hands like those?

He raised the bags up and over her head, then shifted them all to one arm and placed his free hand at the small of her back to move her forward. She thought of snapping forward at the contact, but her body seemed unresponsive and so could do nothing more than listlessly be led forward out of the store.

They were half a block away from the store, and Beast Boy drew parallel to Raven, unconsciously leaving his arm around her as they walked forward. "She's such a weird chick, huh?"

Raven nodded numbly.

"I thought she was going to stab my face in when I said we were okay."

Raven wasn't paying much attention, too shocked by the mulishness of her own blasphemous thoughts as they made their way to the tower.

What was going on with her? She couldn't begin to answer that question without getting an image of Beast Boy with his shirt drawn halfway up his abdomen, and that provocative trail that led to places better left unknown if she had any sense.

* * *

**Okay, I said I was going to finish this, but I'm bone-dead tired, and I want to get this out there before I change my mind. So… to be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**THOUGHTS OF ATROCITY AND OTHER BAD STUFF…**

It turned out, three hours later, as she munched on her pasta, engulfing fist-sized meatballs (Cyborg had cooked), she still couldn't get it completely out of her mind.

He was sitting right across from her, for the love of Chrysler! There was sauce on his mouth, and a whip of it on his cheek, just under his eye that was left when he slurped up a string of spaghetti.

_Do I find this attractive?_ She thought. It was horrifying. It couldn't be true.

But still, underneath that sauce, suddenly, now, she could see his mouth.

The shape of it… the top was thinner than the lower, and expressive, with a permanent uplift on one side, giving it a particularly devious quality. And his cheekbones were high and slightly wide, showing off his large sparkling green eyes, making his whole face look open and accepting. A little naïve and kind. Cheerful and warm.

Raven stabbed another meatball and shoved it into her mouth, chewing steadily.

"So when will it be up and running?" asked Robin.

Cyborg swallowed, a lump of food visible in his throat. "I still need to test it – you know, make sure it doesn't explode when I rev the engine – so maybe a week if I get that part I need. It'll add stealth. Right now, we couldn't sneak up on a sloth."

"Sounds awesome."

Robin, on the other hand, had a straighter face, with sharp cheekbones and a hardness that denoted his serious nature. Only in these times, when he was relaxed and among friends, did he ease up a little and just _be_. For a while, it wasn't about saving the world and proving something, it was about being with friends and having a good time.

_I guess he kind of needs us all, just like I kind of need everyone too._

She stared hard at him, trying to illicit some sort of emotion.

Those fan girls had it. What could they see, what could they feel that wasn't there for her? Yes, she could concede, he was cute, hot even. He was thin and lithe, tall with narrow hips. His shoulders were broad and strong, his arms were steel and his hands were large and sure. Maybe it was the gloves? She couldn't see their strength.

_Is that my thing now? Hands?_

She shook her head. No, there were other things about him too. Like the way he ducked his head when he ate, and looked up at everyone as they spoke, eating but still giving them his undivided attention. He was like that – always made you know he was paying attention. Always interested without forcing himself to be interested. Knew something was wrong and talked to you about it, was upset when you were upset.

Suddenly, Cyborg laughed, shaking the table with the rumbling.

Raven turned her attention to him, noticing, since this was turning into a routine now I guess, his mouth. Robins had been thinner than Beast Boy's but still somehow supple. Cyborg's mouth was positively luscious.

Raven wondered briefly that if she kissed him, would he be gentle? He looked like he'd be a gentle kisser – not that she had any experience with deducing the kissing styles of boys. But his lips looked so soft.

His figure was dominating, but by his happy face and dark, endlessly joyful eyes were what set him off. He was nothing more than a giant teddy bear.

And he was dedicated, which was evident when he worked. He could spend hours on something and not stop – taking apart something small – like the antique clock she'd had. Without her asking, he'd offered to fix it and took it apart right in front of her, handling the delicate little pieces with care and precision, talking all the while about how it worked. Most of what he said went flying right over her head. But it had been nice to hear him talk. Without realizing, she'd been lulled and soothed by his voice, staring at his face until he'd suddenly proclaimed he was done.

"Ahh! Man I'm done!"

Raven snapped out of her trance, coming back to the real world. Everyone was finishing up, and her spaghetti was cold.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "Me too. I'll be in my room if you guys need me.

It was time for some serious meditation now. Maybe after a few house of intense concentration, she'd go back to normal and stop noticing things about him, like the way he set his fork down as she stood, and how his eyes caught the light as they flicked up into her own, or how when he breathed –

"son of a -!"

She practically sprinted out of the room, using her power to send her plate skittering across the counter and slide to a halt at the edge of the counter before toppling into the disposal. (for various purposes, let's say they're disposable plates.)

* * *

Soon after Raven had beat a hasty, very strange exit, Starfire had glared at her plate, which was empty save for a few smears of sauce. The boys had fallen relatively silent, watching her.

There was something wrong with the girls of the tower.

Raven had been silent, not unusual. But she usually cracks a sarcastic quip every now and then if someone left themselves open for it. There had been many opportunities for such remarks, but she hadn't taken the bait, not even the supremely obvious ones that Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had deliberately played into just to see if she'd buy it.

She hadn't. She'd just stared at each of them, oblivious to their nervous expressions, or strained conversations. Her eyes would roam over them, landing in various places, sizing them up, concentrating, then getting this angry look on her face that made the boys suddenly fearful of whatever she was mulling over in her mind.

Starfire had been on another planet entirely, eating and eating, until, conceivably, she couldn't eat anymore. In fact, she'd topped Cyborg pound for pound on pasta consumption. One would wonder at how she could do so, especially without having to hang her gut over the table just to sit comfortably, but she was so slender. Toned with muscle, and powerful.

And not a speck of sauce on her or her clothes despite the distracted way she was acting.

Starfire usually contributed to the conversation, moreso than Raven, asking questions about this and that. She was a curious girl, and still, after all these years, hadn't completely figured out a lot of Earth. But damnit she tried. At least, before she had.

Now she just stood, ignoring or not noticing the attention of the boys as she tossed her plate and glided out of the room.

Robin let out a breath. "Any idea what's going on?"

"Not a clue. What do you think is up with them?" Cyborg pushed his plate away, and fiddled with the fork, which seemed downright miniscule in his large fingers. He turned to Beast Boy. "What was up with Raven?"

Beast boy shrugged, then quirked an eyebrow. "I think she was a little weird at the store. I mean, after we got away from Joanie, she just kind of shut down. I kept trying to talk to her, but she got this really weird look on her face."

"What kind of look?" asked Robin, a frown appearing on his face.

Beast Boy shrugged again. "I don't know. Like she was sick or something. Kind of mad, a little queasy."

"Yeah, I got that." Said Cyborg with a smirk. "When you all came back."

Beast boy flushed, remembering the scene.

He'd kept his arm around Raven, leading her on, afraid if he let go, she'd just bob away like a stick pulled away by an invisible current. She would sway into his every step, knocking into his side, a fumbling sort of listless air in her gait.

He'd tried to keep up a steady stream of talk, but realized now he must have been babbling, but it all passed through her. Obviously she was elsewhere, and as he watched, a slow veil of horror and disgust had fallen over her expression. Though she had schooled her features well over the years, Beast Boy was keen enough to deduce the slight changes in her face, and besides, her guard was down – it was like something had slammed full force into her, making her vulnerable and uncharacteristically decipherable.

He hadn't been sure when they got to the bay, whether she would separate from him there, and carry the bags while he morphed into something that would take him over the water to the top of the tower. He waited, tense as all hell, but she hadn't made a move, just created a dark disk under them so all he could do was stand, with her still under his arm.

He wasn't sure when the best time would be for him to extract himself from her, or whether she had even noticed that he was touching her. But the more time he held her, the more uncomfortably intimate it seemed. And if she hadn't noticed his arm was around her, then surely, as he removed it, she would suddenly realize it. And then he'd pay.

So he held onto her.

They reached the top of the Tower, and Cyborg was there waiting for them.

It was his face that must have brought Raven back to earth and then brought them all a little closer, faster, to the earth as well. She must have lost her concentration, or been so blindingly furious at the situation – realizing Beast Boy had been holding onto her all this time, tipped off by the unbelieving look on Cyborg's face. A face that said clearly, "What-the-hell-am-I-in-some-sort-of-twilight-zone-cause-there-is-something-definitely-wrong-with-this-picture-right-here". Because anyway, the disk they'd been floating in on blinked out of existence and they fell the rest of the way down.

It was only three feet, but it wasn't high enough to be a short free-fall and not low enough to be just a slight hick-up. It was a jarring sort of fall, which might not have been too bad, if maybe Beast Boy's brain hadn't had a spasm that made him press Raven in close to him. Maybe it was some latent protective instinct that had obviously overruled some other survival instinct that plainly knew it wasn't a good idea to press a girl, any girl, and especially not Raven – who could be deadly – into you unless you were seconds away from the end of the world.

A three foot drop was not the end of the world, but damn if it felt like it should have been.

Beast Boy had about enough time to marvel at the way Raven's… girl parts… felt against his body. The stark contrast of her female softness, which was not a term he had ever, and would ever describe her as (at least not out loud) was mesmerizing. The top of her head came up to just around his chin and she'd pulled back to stare into his face and the moment seemed surreal and somehow suspended in time. It was the smell of her, and the feel of her and… the… slight… tremor he felt as she sucked in a breath, sharp and fast, bringing other parts of her to his full attention. It was all of her, pressed into his chest, his side, his hip, his leg, like it all fit. He wondered at the way her fingers, which he noticed where rather neat and tapered off delicately, unlike his which seemed blunt and clumsy, tightened around the fabric of his clothes, and… was she pulling him in? Pulling him closer?

Her face was dark crimson and the look in her eyes told of murder and horrors unknown. She hadn't been pulling him closer, she'd been securing her hold. Her eyebrows came down, and Beast Boy's stomach sank.

Then it all went to hell.

"Bwah-ha-ha-ha!"

Snapping back to the present with a jerk, Beast Boy's face was red, red, red. Cyborg was laughing at him.

"You should have seen your face! God, I thought I was going to have to pick up the pieces of you from all over the city."

Robin shook his head. "I don't want to touch that. Not with a ten foot pole and a Hazmat uniform."

Which left Starfire, the resident alien.

"I haven't seen her in a while, but then I've been in the garage," said Cyborg.

"Yeah, I mean, we've all been a little busy."

Robin drummed his fingers against the table. "Well, whatever this is about, I'm sure we're going to find out about it soon. This stuff always has a way of blowing up, and always seems to leave us scorched in pretty nasty places."

Beast Boy's ears drooped.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for the fallout." Cyborg said, scratching his jaw. "Well! Anyone want ice-cream?"

* * *

**I have no knack for making anything cartoony and 'blah! In yo' face, sucka!' but I try and make it humorous. Does it seem too serious? I don't want it to come out all angsty. **

**It's funny, because this the first story I was sure I wasn't going to plan out. Actually I had a plan, but then I realized it's been done before – like in a real episode. I gasped and died, and now I have to think up something else. Too late to retrace my steps now. Ha. I'll just go where the wind takes me.**

**I want to make sure I'm staying true to the characters. If there's anything you don't like, please tell me, and feel free to give me some suggestions. **

**Beast Boy and Raven are my favorite pairing, but they're not all I'm aiming for. I'm prepared to add in some Robin and Starfire stuff, and Cyborg needs a girl. So that'll be my own original character, and she'll be good for him, but she'll be bad – oh, so bad. Because Cyborg deserves some sassy bitch to even out the moody, droning, cool, sarcastic Raven and the bubbly, naïve, childishly-curious, never-endingly endearing Starfire.**

**Actually it isn't in me to make a bubbly character, but I'll try my hardest – because Starfire isn't Starfire without the wince-inducing sunshine goodness.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I admit, I think it's kind of dry. Read it anyway, because at least I tried. Spare my feelings. Don't you dare send me hate-vibes. **

Cyborg played with rapid-fire precision. "C'mon Beast Boy. Are you even trying? This is embarrassing, man, just embarrassing."

"Just wait, I'm about to unleash hell." Beast Boy tapped the buttons. "You ain't got nothing on me, Cy. Nothing."

"Oh! Power ball! It's mine, it's mine."

Robin, sitting between the two loudmouthed, trash-talking fanatics, raised an eyebrow. "Is that what we're supposed to be going for?"

The little characters scurried for the glowing orb. Robin stayed clear of the fray for a second and considered the situation. Cyborg's Luigi character was bombarding Beast Boy's green Kirby with fireball after fireball. Beast Boy was yelling, "You just wait until I get my big pot! You aren't even the favorite Bro. Everyone knows it's all about Mario, and Luigi just leeches off his fame!"

Cyborg gasped. "Blasphemy!"

_Now._

Robin's Meta-Knight swooped in and dealt Kirby a powerful blow, sending the character blasting off until he was no more than a wink in the sky. Kirby's damage had been too great. And Cyborg's was no better. Robin turned on him.

"Oh, crap!"

Luigi turned tail and made a break for the power ball. He hit it twice before Robin descended, and then broke it the third time just in time for Robin to slash him once, sending Luigi off screen like a rocket.

Cyborg collapsed dramatically over the side of the couch. "No! No, no, God, no. I was so close!"

Robin set the controller down. "Alright, it's decided. Beast Boy does the laundry. Cyborg gets the trash. I'll be in my room if you need me."

He walked away, a bit of a swagger in his step.

Beast Boy looks at Cyborg. "It must be beginners luck."

Cyborg raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Or he practices when we're not looking…"

They stayed quiet a moment. "Best two out of three has to do both."

"You're on."

"If I have to listen to those idiots fight over who does the chores, I'm going to push them through the window."

"Beast Boy would fly off. Only Cyborg would get hurt."

"I could tape them together first. And besides, do you really think Beast Boy would let Cyborg fall like that?"

"But would they be able to separate before they hit the ground? And no, I don't think Beast Boy would let Cyborg fall. Still, I don't know that the fall would kill them."

"Right. I'd have to follow it up with something heavy."

"Maybe more than one. And possibly something sharp."

"Yes."

"Hm."

"So… It's not like I want to pry or anything… but seeing as… well… what's wrong, Star?"

Raven plucked uncomfortably at the cover on Starfire's bed. Starfire was sitting on the floor, hunched over the pillow in her lap. She'd been like that since Raven entered the room. Everything Star said was muffled and monotone. Like she had no energy.

This wasn't Raven's idea. To ask Star what was wrong. But someone needed to do it.

By all rights, that someone was Robin, the resident therapist. But he was sort of shifty when it came to Starfire, naturally. Not when it really counted. But lately, Star had been avoiding Robin all on her own, which wasn't natural at all, and that in itself prompted Robins' avoidance in turn.

So that was why he was outside the door, discreetly holding back, and Raven was harassed into going in to work out the problem with the alien girl.

Star was quiet for a while, then she glared with such ferocity at the far wall that Raven looked over at it herself. "I apologize, Raven, but I cannot speak with you about this particular matter. I haven't made up my mind about it yet, and until then I would rather keep it to myself."

Raven felt relieved, and then immediately guilty for it. She could try and persuade Starfire to spill her secret, and she had to admit, it was more than a little intriguing. But something about the way the girl looked, so rigid and guarded, made it clear that this time at least, Starfire wasn't going to confide in anyone.

"Well…"

There was an awful awkward silence.

"Is there… anything I can do?"

Starfire shook her head. "Not at the moment, but… thanks Raven. Oh, and…" She angled her head to the door. "Don't tell him anything, okay?"

So she knew that Robin was sending her in to spy. The girl wasn't as oblivious as she let on. "I'll keep him off your back, Star."

Raven leaned back a little and heard a rustle of paper as her hand met the cool, glossy cover of what could only be a magazine. Her eyes slid down and for the second time in as many days, she saw that blasted magazine.

With a startled, cat-like hiss, she retracted her hand and sprang from the bed. "What the hell -?"

Starfire turned upraised eyebrows her way. "Oh. I got that a while back… Interesting, isn't it?"

Raven snapped wild eyes at Starfire, catching the too-casual lilt to her voice. "What would make it so interesting?"

A little bit of Star's old giddy buoyancy returned to her features, and she floated up and over her bed to snatch up the magazine and flip to the exact double-page spread that had started all of her madness. Starfire held the damn thing open to show her.

It was against her better judgment. All of her being urged her to avert her gaze and save herself. All that meditation would have gone to waste. But Starfire was watching her intently, and any sign of weakness now would be more of a downfall than she could ever recover from. So she stayed stock-still like a rabbit caught in the open, sensing the fox prowling in the high grass around her.

The fox was probing her defenses, checking for weak spots.

She put up her best nonchalant face, and regarded the poster with careful indifference.

"It's a good thing we made him get new clothes."

"Yes." Star said, floating ever closer. "I agree. They are awfully tight in this picture. And those pants are dangerously low. It's a good thing we caught this atrocity in time. He might have been attacked in the streets."

Raven grimaced. "I don't know about attacked… the fashion police work in much subtler ways, I'm sure."

"I don't know if the police would have gotten to him in time, fashion-oriented or not. I was always much more concerned about the mobs of…" a bitter look of hatred crossed her pretty features. "_fangirls_ that would come drooling over another Titan."

She shook her head, as if to clear it of residual hatred. After all, she had to concentrate on Raven, and her perpetual war with Robin's fangirls could slip from her mind for a moment.

Raven decided it was time to keep her mouth shut. The girl was drifting so close, dangling that cursed magazine before her like a piece of incriminating evidence.

Evidence for what? She's got nothing on me. Nothing.

Raven lifted her chin.

"You know, this was the last copy I could find…" She flipped to another page, another candid shot, something she hadn't seen. "I've always wondered how they get close enough to take these kinds of pictures. It seems so foolish."

Despite herself, Raven's eyes lit onto the image, devouring the picture like fire.

"Wha –?"

The shot showed Beast Boy, crouched and leaning forward as if about to leap, one hand outstretched in a fist, and the other held back for balance. The look on his face was pure feral rage and determination. His canines stood out, deadly incisors ready to rip a bite out of whoever he was glaring at out of frame. The chords in his neck stood out as his animal snarl was caught forever, frozen and silently furious. There was a gash across his cheek, leaking blood just beneath his flaring green eye, wide and wild.

He looked delicious and visceral. Near the brink of sprouting fangs and claws, a coiled force of utmost power, ready to unleash hell and break some ass. This was a primitive, base side of Beast Boy that one rarely saw. It made you think there was a barely concealed monster hidden under the surface of all that boyishness. A tense animal lurking in the depths of those dancing green eyes.

"…aven?... Oh, Raven? Come back to us, lover-girl."

Raven rocked back on her heels, and shot a look that could kill at the girl in the air just before her.

She didn't even have the decency to cower. Instead she grinned, devilishly accomplished and triumphant.

"Bang! Right on the mark." She made a little pistol with her finger and thumb, and blew the 'smoking barrel'.

Raven shook her head, dazed and riding through her astonishment and embarrassment, all of that emotion riding a bigger wave of supreme anger. She sidestepped Starfire and made for the door.

Just as she got to the exit, her salvation from the ultimate shame of her realization of something her own mind was struggling to keep from the surface, she turned.

"Don't you fucking tell anyone."

Starfire smiled, then seemed guilty. "I wouldn't tell, Raven. But you should not take this so hard." She tossed the magazine at her and Raven caught it deftly. "It is not a bad thing to like someone. Even Beast Boy. You'll come around to the idea."

Raven's face twitched and she swept out of the room, leaving Starfire to chuckle at the other girl's foolishness. She hovered a moment in the air before watching the window wearily. Setting down gently, she neared the glass and pushed aside the heavy curtains to stand before the large floor-to-ceiling panels and gaze out into the bay. Shoulders heavy, the girl stood and waited.

Raven passed by the main room, where Beast Boy and Cyborg were still nuking it out on the game console.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Get away from my item. Urah! I'm going to murder you!"

"One, two, three… oh! Bye, bye Beast Boy!"

She stopped and watched, shaking her head in disbelief.

This is so not worth the agony, she thought. I should kill him and get it over with.

With a loud groan, Beast Boy set down the control and leaned around, angling his body awkwardly to ease the tense muscles in his back. He saw Raven standing at the door, and fixed his eyes on her.

"Hey, Rae."

For some unfathomable reason, at the sound of his voice, sparks of that black, negative energy of hers flew from her eyes. Beast Boy sat up straighter, intensely aware of the dire peril he was in, but bewildered as to the cause of it.

She'd been mad at him for some time now. And he was starting to think it wasn't all because of that incident on the roof. Something was bothering her bad, and for some reason, Beast Boy was involved in it.

"Rae? Are you okay?" Cyborg cut in. Brave of him, for interfering. But inversely, at the sound of Cyborg's deep voice, she seemed to calm a degree.

"I'm good," she said shortly. "just pissed off."

And with that she walked off.

Beast Boy and Cyborg stared at each other.

Beast Boy shook his head. "Man, I don't know how much more of this chick-madness I can take. I think my life is in danger. Did you see the way she was looking at me?"

Cyborg pressed a few buttons on his controller distractedly. "Yeah. Maybe you should apologize or something."

"For what?! I didn't _do_ anything. She's crazy or something. Crazy and dangerous."

"I don't know. Obviously you did something wrong. If you don't know what it is, just fake it till you make it, man. Do something, god, this is making everyone's life hell. Own up, dude. Be a man."

Beast Boy pouted and he flicked an imaginary speck off his pants. "I don't want to be a man."

"Maybe you should be _really, really_ nice to her for a while. You know, get on her good side."

For a moment, Beast Boy mulled this over. "She wouldn't go for it."

No, any attempt at being _nice_ would be met with icy hostility.

"Well, you've gotta try something. Otherwise I'll be stuck cleaning chunks of your dead body off the walls, I swear."

Something, something. Beast Boy knew being nice wouldn't cut it. He'd have to go to the extremes, supplicate himself, be completely at her mercy. He'd have to sacrifice things he would never dream of sacrificing. She'd be in possession of his soul, his sanity.

"There's no other way," he said, deathly grim and resolved.

Cyborg caught the look on his friends' face and frowned, worried. He had the look of a man about to sell his soul to the devil for a peanut and a hit of tequila before the final hurrah.

"Good luck, dude."

Beast Boy gulped, finding his throat parched and his tongue thick. He patted Cyborg on the shoulder.

"Luck won't help where I'm going. Just remember me as I was… please?"

"Always."

"Thanks."

"…We going three for five?"

"You know it."

**I don't know. I just don't know.**

**Please review. I need it.**

**Do not go gentle into that good night.**

**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

**Dylan Thomas**

**(I just thought that was an awesome quote from an awesome poem)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so the Starfire thing went all wrong. I **_**said**_** I couldn't do bubbly. Anyway, let's just pretend I didn't fuck up one of the most important characters on Teen Titans. I'll make it better, I promise. **

"Stand over there," Raven indicated with a nod of her head.

The sun was shining brightly overhead. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Beast Boy shuffled into the brightness with clear regret. They were out on the roof. Against Beast Boy's better judgment, he'd agreed to this. Hell, he suggested it. It hurt him to do it. He'd known it would. It went against his pride, his manhood… his survival instincts.

Raven, setting a stand up so her large, leather bound spell book could rest on, looked… perky.

When he'd approached her that morning, she nearly snarled.

"What do you want, Beast Boy?"

He'd taken a deep breath. Her eyes had stared icily at him.

"I'm getting the feeling…" he paused, looking around the kitchen as if the walls and buzzing appliances would give him the right words. They didn't. He let the words spill from his mouth, nothing else to lose. "Well… did I do something?"

Raven raised her eyebrows.

Launching in quickly, before he lost his nerve, Beast Boy leaned in, speaking earnestly. "I mean, I know the whole roof thing got you mad. And I'm really sorry. If that's it, you should know I'm really sorry. But… whatever it is. I will do anything Raven. Really. I'll do anything. Whatever I did, I didn't mean it. I would never do anything bad to you on purpose, Rae, you know that. And I'll make it up to you – I'll do whatever you want. Believe me, I'm yours, whatever you want. Just please don't be mad at me anymore. Please?"

Then he'd done it. He'd seen her eyes as he spoke, growing more furious as each word left his mouth. There was disgust there at the curl of her lip. She was going to explode. She was going to break him in half, scorch him with her fury, unleash almighty hell on his sorry ass.

So he'd ducked his head, staring up at her with his last-resort weapons.

First, the eyes. Big, green, puppy-dog eyes. When all else failed, he'd always stuck to his guns. It was a fail-safe. She always fell for the eyes. Weather she wanted to or not, he knew the eyes got to her. Like they were getting to her now.

She paused.

It was an uneasy pause, like being shot into the air and hitting zero-velocity before you fell back down to the earth, or teetering on the peak of a giant rollercoaster wave.

But he knew, that wouldn't be enough to cinch it. He had to go for it. The final blow.

"I'll work on spells with you."

And there it was:

His victory was sealed in the look of shock on her face.

She closed her mouth, her face impassive. It was a vast improvement over her look of anger. And the slight suspicion was better than pre-slaughter.

"Beast Boy… I can't make you do that."

He came around the table, "No, you can. You see, I'm giving you permission… I mean, I want to do it. It'd be good practice for the both of us, see, so it's mutually beneficial."

It didn't take much to convince her. She was always starved for a test dummy, and here was the lamb offering itself up to slaughter. She couldn't pass it up.

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes," she said, leaping out of her chair, forgetting her half-eaten cheerios on the counter in her haste.

Beast Boy bit his lip as he watched her cloak disappear through the doorframe.

_This is better, right?_

Raven threw back her sleeves, exposing her forearms.

"Wouldn't it just be easier if you took the whole damn thing off?"

She ignored him and turned back to the spell, double checking the wording. Her sleeves slid down her arms again, and she hiked them back into position.

"Alright, hold on." She shook her arms out, then peered closer at the book. "This should be very mild. You shouldn't worry. Like electricity – barely a static shock... I think."

"What was that last part?"

"Shh – I need to concentrate."

Beast Boy nodded. He started pacing, and muttering. "Yeah. No, you concentrate. You go ahead and concentrate. Nah, that's alright. That's alright. Concentrate. Breathe in, breath out – concentrate. You got this, man. Whooo!"

He started shaking out his shoulders, stretching his arms over his head, running in place for short bursts at a time – getting ready.

_I'm a terrible person_, she thought for the hundredth time as she watched him pace.

It wasn't his fault like he'd claimed in the kitchen. As always, he was a dope, but he was purely innocent. She couldn't blame him for being… attractive… sometimes.

As he'd spoken, taking all the blame for her anger, she'd felt a distressing stab of guilt. All that anger he saw in the kitchen. That wasn't for him. It was for her.

Raven coughed, turning so she didn't have to see him so agitated in front of her.

And then he'd offered to help her practice her spells. Damn if there had been anything for him to offer- that of all things.

There was only so much meditating you could do, but when it came down to it, practicing was the only way to really learn something. But how had he known that this, above all things would guarantee him passage out of the fire. He could have committed murder and if he'd asked her to practice her spells on him, she'd have sprung a spell book form thin air to make it happen.

She'd furiously debated with herself as she rushed through the halls of the tower to get to her room weather this was right. Obviously he'd used this as a last resort. She should have told him it wasn't his fault-

_Well… it kind of is. Kind of._

She should have told him that she was just being stupid and was only angry because…

_Because…?_

_You can't admit it, can you? It's better this way. Just practice with him. He won't get hurt. There's nothing to worry about. He'll think he's making up for something he did, and you'll get the experience. Afterwards you won't be so angry, and he'll think he's done his duty. And it'll all be settled. _

It seemed perfectly reasonable. And after all, he'd offered to do it. He knew what he was getting into. It wasn't like she was forcing him to do it. He wanted it.

Yes, he wanted this. It would make him feel better, knowing he did something.

So it was okay.

Raven's sleeves slid once more down her arms. Gritting her teeth, she fought to keep a strangle-hold on her last nerve.

"Goddamn, stupid little…"

With a jerk, she unclasped her cloak and swung it around her shoulders.

A wonderful stream of wind brushed against her skin, calming her immensely. She dropped the heavy fabric on the roof and took a deep breath. The wind brushed against her cheek and she turned her head into the sky as it skimmed through her hair. The sun's heat warmed her exposed skin.

Behind her, Beast Boy paused in his agitated pacing to watch her.

Her short hair lifted slightly off her neck in the wind and she stretched her arms back, fingertips meeting behind her back as she silently reveled in the feel of it. For a moment she was calm and still – not terrifying. She was a girl.

A girl with long legs. A girl with smooth skin. A girl in a one-piece that exposed both in abundance.

Quietly, without meaning to, Beast Boy exhaled. "Wow."

Raven looked over her shoulder. "What?"

Beast Boy shook his head. "Nothing."

With a raised eyebrow, Raven briskly went to stand near her book again, took a breath and began muttering the words in short even little phrases.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was trying to be inconspicuous as he stared at her out of the corner of his eye. He resumed his pacing, his mind occupied.

There was something wrong, here. Something above and beyond what was already wrong, tipping the scale of wrongness so that Beast Boy could hardly conceive the sheer lunacy of it all.

When had Raven grown up?

It had happened without any warning. There should have been a warning.

There had to be warnings about these things, hadn't there? A small sign? Anything.

Like maybe a tiny fairy would pop out of the air and go, "Uh, hey, yeah. Know that girl over there, who you've known for forever? She's starting to get boobs now. And they're gonna be nice ones. And she's gonna get some killer curves. Oh, Did I mention the nice legs? Just wait, they'll go for forever. Yeah. Just to let you know. As a warning. Because, now… now you're fucked. And not the good fucked. The bad fucked. As in rue-the-day fucked. Okay… goodbye."

And then poof. The fairy is gone. But you know. A fair warning. That's all.

"I've almost got it," she said, slightly distracted. "It's just this one pronunciation…"

"Hmm?"

He wasn't concentrating. He was stuck looking at her shoulders. How her head was tilted slightly to the left. Her neck was slender and sloped gently into the curve of her back, and how her back dipped into her waist and flared out to for her round hips. Her butt. Her legs. Her ankles. Hell, her knees.

She turned her head for a moment to consider him.

He swallowed, looking at the space directly over her head, then at her breasts. Then her forehead. Then her breasts again. And then finally he turned away altogether.

_Oh, god. I'm a pervert. If she catches me looking at her like that, she'll kill me. _

"Ready?"

Beast Boy let out a breath and turned to face her. "Yeah. I'm ready."

Cyborg and Robin sat beside each other on the couch. The television was off. Everything was silent.

"Hey." Cyborg tapped Robin's shoulder and pointed out the large windows looking out over the bay. Large black clouds were rolling in. Fast.

"I guess the fireworks have started."

Robin sighed. "I'm going to head up there already. You coming?"

Cyborg shook his head but still got to his feet. "Nope. I think I'm gonna head for the electrical unit. There's no way the T-Tower isn't going to take a hit on this one."

"Right. See you later."

Thunder rolled overhead. The floor trembled just slightly. "Yup."

Starfire chewed her lip, staring wordlessly into the abyss of an angry cloud forming just over her head. The fierce wind jostled her body and whipped her hair around in a wild frenzy.

She looked down as Raven finished her incantation.

Beast Boy was braced against the wind, shielding himself from the worst of it with his arms.

Starfire had gone up to spy on the two, choosing to do some recon from up above. Of course, she had assumed Raven would work on something big, as she was outside, but the enormity of the situation was distressing. Starfire wondered if she had everything under control. Of course, she must have. Raven was nothing if not responsible. She had to trust that this was all according to plan.

Raven looked up.

There was stark terror in her face.

"Oh." Starfire wimpered as her hair struck painfully against her own face. "that's not good."

The sky darkened quickly. She could hear the cracks on energy in the air, but so far no lightning. It was coming too fast, too strong. It wasn't in her control. From the moment she'd uttered the first syllable, it hadn't been in her control. Like a leech, a parasite, it bleed her power from her to feed it's evil intent. She could do nothing.

The words were pulled from her lips by a strong force.

When it was over, her whole body felt spent and weak. She clutched her hands to her chest to feel the reassuring thumping of her heart.

"Raven!"

She looked up. Starfire was high up in the air, looking at a loss. "What's going on?"

Raven took another look at the roiling clouds and muttered a sharp, angry, "Fuck!"

In a second things turned from bad to worse. Lightening, razor winds, deafening thunder. Everything funneled in to a pinpoint of fury – and it was all aimed straight at Beast Boy's head. He was watching all of nature's wrath descend on him, frozen still, awaiting his doom.

Robin burst through the door, a millisecond later and hurled his staff at Beast Boy's chest. It hit him squarely and knocked him out of the way.

The attack of wind and lightening bored into the tower. But another was building high up in the sky. Starfire lurched into action as the next strike went for Beast Boy, breathless and floundering on the floor.

"Starfire, no, get back!" Robin yelled. She wasn't going to make it to him in time.

She had her arms around Beast Boy's head as the lightning struck her back.

Starfire winced, but felt no pain.

"Wha…? Ah!"

A chord of wind tugged her forcefully off of Beast Boy and flung her into the approaching Robin. They both fell to the ground.

Beast Boy gasped as he finally regained his ability to breath. But he knew it did him little good. The clouds overhead, roiled, ready for the next strike.

So this was it.

No more video games. No more tv marathons. No more junk food. No more Teen Titans. No more Beast Boy.

Bright energy built up into a single point. He could see his final moments flitting away, and closed his eyes to cherish them.

_Oh, god I hope it doesn't hurt. Please, please – no pain. Give me instant death._

Something landed hard on his chest. The lightning? No, wait –

"_Azarath Metrion Sinthos!"_

He opened his eyes. Everything was muted and dark.

The lightning struck against Raven's force-field. It shook but didn't shatter.

"Raven?"

She sighed, "Yeah."

Above them, they could hear the wind hiss in fury, the thunder roar in anger. Lightning struck again and again.

Raven gripped Beast Boy tighter, gasping as every hit struck her shield, expecting it to break at every one. She held it together firmly, teeth clenched tightly.

"Hold it together, Rae." Beast Boy pleaded. "C'mon, you can do this."

Raven shook with her concentration.

The storm bashed at them. The wind clawed and scratched, gouging holes into the tower around them, trying to force its way in.

"C'mon, Rae…"

Another lightning struck. Energy sizzled against the field.

Raven groaned. "Oh, that was stronger. But I think it's getting weaker. Just a little more. Just a little…"

Beast Boy cradled her closer, holding her tightly in his arms. "It's okay," he whispered into her ear.

Raven sank her nails into his skin, but he didn't flinch. "No," she whispered back. "It's not okay."

There was another hit. It broke against the shield with so much force it made their bones rattle. A crack formed in the dome and Raven screamed against Beast Boy's shoulder as she fought to keep it from shattering.

The energy behind the blow built, sensing the weakness.

But she didn't let it in.

The lightning flittered across the shield.

Then finally, taking in one last, resentful parting blow, it retreated into the clouds. The storm grumbled and spat, but gradually died down and finally disappeared, leaving the sky the same peaceful blue as ever.

Beast Boy sat, dumbstruck. They were still in the bubble. Raven was still in his arms, holding tightly onto him. It looked peaceful outside, but he didn't trust it. What if the storm was being sneaky, waiting for them to let their guard down? What if the second Raven let down her forcefield, it struck?

Raven breathed in, a long calming breath. "Don't worry. It's gone now. I know. I can feel it."

"Oh." Beast Boy still felt dumbstruck and suspicious. "That's good."

"Yeah." Raven pushed herself out of Beast Boy's arms, taking great care not to touch him again. "We should be good now."

The shield, however, still remained.

Beast Boy felt he ought to ignore the sudden distance Raven had put between herself and him. "So, then, why are we still in the bubble?"

She paused and licked her lips nervously. "What's the rush?"

Beast Boy's brain did a total flip-flop. He was no longer dumbstruck, he was damn near flabbergasted.

Did this mean…

No, what did this mean?

Wait, wait, wait – backtrack.

She's just been in my arms. Holding me tightly. Protecting me.

Now she's acting weird. In fact she's been acting weird for a while.

But she saved me… after she almost killed me.

But we're here now, together. And she won't let down the shield.

We've just been in some big danger. She's not touching me now, but she licked her lips. Does that mean anything. She's not looking at me but…

And she's pink now. There's a lot of pink in her cheeks.

It's quiet. Tense.

I don't know what to do. Does she want me to….

No!

But… maybe, yes.

Wait, does she really? Wha –

*Tap, tap, tap*

"You can't stay in there forever!"

Beast Boy whipped his head around and found Robin looming over the barrier, an expression of the utmost calm on his face. The calm was the worst. It was that white-hot anger. And it was aimed right over his shoulder at raven, who was trying to be nonchalant about sitting in the middle of a bubble, around which destruction was heaped like an ocean of water around a lone, sandy island.

Robin tapped again on the barrier.

"Come out!"

"I don't think he's going to just go away," Beast Boy said to Raven. She closed her eyes, and crossed her legs.

"Of course not."

"We'll have to come out sooner or later."

"Yes," Raven said, and this time she had the decency to look a little sheepish. "But I sure as hell am not going out there now. Look at his face. I'm not suicidal."

**Okay, it's been a long, long time since I've updated anything. I just want this up and gone already. So, here you are. I'm sorry if it wasn't all that good. I'm pretty sure I've got something figured out for Starfire later on. **

**I'm open to any suggestions as per the Raven and Beast Boy situation. I really just want Raven to rip off Beast Boy's shirt and kiss him already – because lets face it, Raven would be the dominator in that relationship – but I can't bring myself to do it. It just doesn't seem all that likely. Even though I fear I've strayed far above and beyond all of their characters already. I don't want to do something so radical. Although I might. Just for finality's sake. **


End file.
